Oliver Stone to Write and Direct Edward Snowden Movie

The film will be based on “The Snowden Files” by Guardian journalist Luke Harding

Leave it to agent provocateur Oliver Stone to take the reins of a new movie about American whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The filmmaker responsible for “JFK,” “W.” and “Nixon” is set to direct an adaptation of “The Snowden Files,” an account of the ongoing NSA scandal written by Guardian journalist Luke Harding.

Stone’s thriller will explore what led Snowden to leak thousands of classified documents to former Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald while working as a contractor at the National Security Agency back in June 2013.

Stone will write the script and his frequent collaborator Moritz Borman will produce, while Harding and other Guardian journalists will serve as consultants on the story and subsequent production.

“This is one of the greatest stories of our time,” said 67-year-old Stone. “A real challenge. I’m glad to have the Guardian working with us.”

“The story of Edward Snowden is truly extraordinary, and the unprecedented revelations he brought to light have forever transformed our understanding of, and relationship with, government and technology. We’re delighted to be working with Oliver Stone and Moritz Borman on the film,” said Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger.

Published earlier this year, “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man,” chronicles Snowden’s as a committed young Republican who found his libertarian values increasingly at odds with the U.S. government’s surveillance program.

His revelations exposed the culture of mass government surveillance and drew international outcry. He’s currently facing a 30-year prison sentence in the U.S., though he has been granted temporary asylum in Russia.

Stone and Borman hope to start production before the end of the year, as Sony and Bond producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are readying their own Snowden movie based on Greenwald’s book “No Place to Hide.”

Stone, who most recently developed a Martin Luther King movie before abandoning the project after clashing with DreamWorks over the script, previously made documentaries on Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, as well as the 2012 TV series “Oliver Stone‘s Untold History of the United States.”